Story highlights
Romanians are deciding whether to remove President Basescu from office
He declares victory as exit polls indicate low turnout
The prime minister says he should consider stepping down anyway
The embattled Romanian president had urged supporters to skip Sunday's vote
An effort to remove embattled Romanian President Traian Basescu from office appeared to have failed Monday, as figures from election officials suggested that low turnout rendered a referendum invalid.
With 97% of of the votes counted, officials said just over 46% of registered voters had cast ballots, short of the majority of registered voters needed for the vote to be valid.
Those who did cast ballots voted nearly 9 to 1 to impeach the president, the Central Election Bureau said.
Basescu had urged his supporters to boycott the polls, saying, “The best help today is to stay home.”
After the polls closed at 11 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), he said voters had rejected a “coup” by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and the interim president, Crin Antonescu. Asked if he was certain about the figures, he told them, “I’m never wrong.”
Exit polls Sunday had shown that the overwhelming majority of those voting favored Basescu’s impeachment.
That led Ponta to say Basescu “should strongly consider whether he is still legitimate or not in the office.”
“I believe that any politician that says he can ignore the voice of almost 9 million people is totally unrealistic,” Ponta said.
Ponta’s Social Liberal Union (USL) disputed the turnout figures, saying it had estimated 9.2 million people had voted – slightly over 50% – which would mean Basescu would be ousted.
Final results are expected later on Monday.
Basescu has been suspended since the USL-led parliament voted to impeach him in early July, saying he overstepped his authority by ordering wage and benefit cuts for public workers.
Basescu said the measures were needed to meet the terms of a $24 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund for the cash-strapped country, but the move soured many Romanians on his leadership.
Opponents also accuse Basescu of cronyism. He took office eight years ago and has already survived one effort to remove him, in 2007.
The latest crisis in the southeastern European nation – slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Oregon – has sent its currency, the leu, plummeting to record lows.
Romanian president faces impeachment
Two pro-Basescu governments have collapsed, paving the way for Ponta’s center-left USL to take office. Ponta succeeded in getting lawmakers to not only suspend Basescu, but to remove both speakers of parliament and replace them with allies.
In voting Sunday, Ponta expressed anger that the prime minister of neighboring Hungary, Viktor Orban, had urged Romania’s ethnic Hungarian minority not to vote.
“I want Romanians to decide their own fate,” Ponta said.
Ponta is dealing with his own controversy: He has been accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. He has dismissed the accusation as a political attack from Basescu.
Journalist Cosmin Stan contributed to this report.
